With a roster that included 19 NHLers, the Swedes powered through Group B with seven straight regulation victories. They were then given a real test in the quarterfinals against their Nordic rivals, needing overtime to edge Finland 2-1. Then it all came crashing down in the semifinals before a rauckus sellout crowd of 17,413 at Prague Arena, with a 7-3 loss.
Marcus Pettersson scored twice in the first period, giving Sweden leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but the Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman wasn’t in the mood to talk about those after the game. Instead, he was left trying to explain why the consensus gold-medal favorites will be playing for bronze tomorrow.
“I think we just gave them too many chances,” he began. “We knew coming in that they’re great rush team and they like to create offense off turnovers. That combined with us being too aggressive up ice … we just gave them too much of that today.”
Is it difficult to come back when you’re playing in a hostile environment like that?
“It is. We felt like we had some opportunities but, like I said, it’s tough when you give up so many goals. That’s something we’ve done a good job of all tournament but we lost our identity a bit today.”
What effect on the game did the goaltending change have?
“Tough to say. It was nothing on Gus (Swedish goaltender Filip Gustavsson). It was us giving them way too many clean looks. I think it was an attempt to spark the team, and I think it worked a bit for the rest of the second period. There was still lots of time left, we got the power-play goal and if we’d got another there, who knows what happens in the third period? But like I said, you really make things difficult on yourself when you get behind that many goals.”
Will it be tough to regroup for the bronze-medal game tomorrow?
“Well, we have to. We want to make sure we regroup, win that last game and get away from here with something, but this one stings a lot. We’re really disappointed right now.”